Councilman Williams Update 5/7/25

Capital improvement plan CIP hearing, Public hearings on lodging tax and real estate tax increases, Public hearing on water sewer increases, and Final budget were all on Wednesday’s agenda

Approval of Minutes: April 2, 2025 and April 16, 2025 - Vote 7-0

Resolution #10-25, Amends and Appropriates FY 24-25 Budget, General Fund for DCJS Local Law Enforcement Grant for equipment - this was to accept a $3,200 grant from the department of justice. Vote 7-0

Resolution #11-25, Amends and Appropriates FY24-25 Budget, General Fund for DCJS Local

Law Enforcement Grant for server - this was to accept another grant for $4,798 from the Department of Justice. – Vote 7–0.

Resolution #12-25, Amends and Appropriates FY24-25 Budget, General Fund for accreditation grant - this was an accreditation grant for $77k from the Department of Justice – vote 7–0

Resolution #13-25, Amends and Appropriates FY24-25 Budget, General Fund for SRO grant - this was a $14,800 grant from DOJ for the school resource officer. Vote 7-0

Council Member Reports

Public safety – this week is national law-enforcement week, CB passed their assessment for accreditation.

Planning Commission – they updated their work plan, they set a public hearing for the FAR, which includes no increase in the percentage, but does allow attached garage to be excluded from the FAR floor area ratio, i.e. square footage.

NGO – Community Foundation meet up 6/11/25, Eagle Festival coming soon, WWER six-year anniversary.

Economic development appreciation breakfast Friday morning May 9th.

Schools – No meetings since last month, but there is plenty going on with yearend preparations.

Parks and Rec – meeting was this week, several events coming, two committee openings for anybody that would like to apply.

Public works – Several waterline and sewer repairs announced, new utility hook ups, sign installations, etc.

Mayor – School fair was a success, COMREL last week, Britt Motors ribbon-cutting, T-ball field opening month-end, June 7 is Save the Bay Day.

Recognition of National Law Enforcement Week Proclamation - we appreciate all you do.

Recognition of National Public Works Week Proclamation - Thank you for your service to the community Public Works.

Emergency Management Services, Westmoreland EMS Chief Byrd - postponed 

Public Comment

Citizen – BAMM fundraiser this week - scavenger hunt. 10,000 awarded in scholarships for the CB high school. Asked for council support for the afterschool program.

Citizen - Please no more parking fees for bike fest.

Citizen - Don’t raise taxes, there are only five disabled people in town, sidewalks do not need to change all, review and fix.

Citizen – Will have many comments tonight, but they come from a love of CB, Council continually lurches from topic to topic, not consistent state vs town: example RVs still allowed in flood zones.  Liaison concept does not function well, sewer spill – you tell the state why not citizens? You can’t tax your way out of the problems. Play game better.

Citizen – Water meters were put in years ago why never used? Elderly moving away, we are driving them out. People on fixed income can’t survive. This is crazy and reckless.

PUBLIC HEARING, Resolution #15-25, Adoption of the Colonial Beach Capital Improvement Plan for Fiscal Years 2026-2030 - the CIP is a “wish list” with over $38M in identified capital needs.  We were told that anything over $50k needs to go on this list.  Several improvements have been made to the plan including comments with additional details and notes from the department heads. 

Public comments

Citizen – there are some good items on the CIP but suggested cuts like Dwight Avenue extension.  Noted things more important like North Beach and shoreline restoration.

Citizen – the extra detail is good, questioned replacement reserves vs merits, stated we have been told the CIP is out of money, should look at replacement reserves to help with multiyear projects, agreed Dwight Avenue not a priority, rip rap did a FOIA and no documents to support the project, sidewalks why not replaced, maintenance should be included in regular budget, park should not be over other priorities.

COUNCIL DISUCSSION

I raised several concerns, including: the $38M price tag, no clear priorities, the plan not being ready for primetime, projects being picked for council one at a time; example Beach rip rap and parks vs council being allowed to prioritize. I also raised a concern about no funding in the CIP with many items on the list for next year‘s budget.  The mayor agreed that council should meet and set priorities but when I suggested that should be done before we pass the CIP the other members did not support postponing.  To make a point on how random the $38M CIP is I suggested why not double the sidewalk total since the original total only included the ADA violations and there are many more sidewalk repairs needed.  Council voted 7-0 to do this.   

I feel it is a false narrative that “the CIP is just a wish list” and we can hash out details and priorities later, the final Vote was 6-1 with me being the only NO vote.  

In my opinion, if we do not create finance and infrastructure committees, we are never going to build a sound foundation for the town’s future.

PUBLIC HEARING, Ordinance No. 767, Amends the Town of Colonial Beach Town Code, Chapter 20, Taxation,” Article I, “In General” Section 20-2, “Real Estate Tax,” by increasing the real estate tax rate from $0.78 to $0.79 per $100 per assessed value - this was one of two tax increases on the table. 

Public Hearing

Citizen – Confusing, one tax or the other, 1.5% not a lot, no town raises and inflation. I’m concerned.

Citizen – Do not raise taxes, but usage fees are OK

Citizen – I consider this is out of order, keep hearing about fixed income, keep moving goal post, people really struggling, come back with a balanced budget, how can we sustain this budget, should start earlier.

COUNCIL DISCUSSION - We talked about lodging and real estate increases at the same time.

Wood – For cottage tax increase, used struggling police officer that could not make ends meet due to health insurance as an example of why we needed to raise taxes.

Larson – He was in favor of increases, maybe even more if we take care of the staff.

Williams – I had numerous reasons for being opposed to the tax increases including: the number of increases over the last several years, irresponsible spending, believing we needed to go through the budget line by line to make cuts. I said I believe that we need to go through the budget in the public, not behind closed doors or in secret. Apparently, this offended the town manager because she got very upset and gave me a strong rebuttal, mentioning how there were many opportunities to make suggested cuts, and that nothing was done in secret. The fact is all cuts that have been made this year were done without other council members knowledge, and without any votes or public discussion.  The Mayor tried to defuse the situation and after I clarified that I thought discussions on cuts should be public and I didn’t even know other member’s suggested cuts were being acted on without council knowledge.  I’m not saying it was intentional but the process was not transparent. 

Sanford – she too mentioned that the the budget meetings were done wrong, she believed there were more cuts, mentioned the boat tax, stated staff deserves a COLA, stated we need to look at where money is going, example we need to look at schools.

Grandstaff – she mentioned that some of the cuts she suggested during her one-on-one meetings were made (e.g. park slide, putt putt golf course), mentioned COLA is a necessity, stated she believed that we should go back to review.

Mayor – mentioned that residents were on a fixed income and could receive discounts. Also stated reasons for tax increases being necessary.

In the end, I made a motion to send the budget back to the town manager to balance it with no tax increases and to try to work in a COLA. I also stated I had numerous cuts that I could suggest.  We were asked to send those to the town manager and have additional one on one meetings. I personally wanted these discussions to be in public and I stated this. I have since sent my proposed cuts to the town manager and posted them on social media. Hopefully we will have more discussion at the next meeting and a budget with no increases.  While other council members like Wood were unsure of the town manager‘s ability to balance the budget without an increase, they did support my motion to have her try.

The final vote to postpone and have the town manager make additional cuts was 7–0

PUBLIC HEARING, Ordinance No. 766, Amends the Town of Colonial Beach Town Code, Chapter 20, “Taxation,” Article III, “Transient Lodging Tax,” by increasing the rate by a percentage not exceed two percent (2%) - this tax increase was presented as a second option to balance the budget.

Public hearing

Citizen – representative of the chamber of commerce, and we are opposed to the increase, last year was increased and we haven’t even had a chance to assess the impacts. you are undermining businesses, results will be negative, not legal according to VA code, find an alternate way to increase business.

Citizen – it’s like walking a tight rope, a lot of opportunity missed, extreme concerns with national impacts, please take a step back.

Citizen – consider impacts on struggling businesses, reconsider how to bring people in.

Citizen – business owner, consider impacts, don’t want to have to raise prices.

Citizen - don’t raise, impacts on all businesses.

Citizen - concerns on trends, no guarantee due to variables. Town has bad track record of over collecting, this is kind of like saying businesses are under charging and can absorb the cost. stressful, leery for businesses to come here longer-term viability.

Citizen – normally support, but have concerns, enforce what we have, free tap fees? Police training other localities.

Citizen – be creative, consider other ways to bring in and improve revenue.

Citizens – 5 people wrote in against the tax increase so I stated for the record their concerns due to the fact that written comments are no longer allowed.

Council action – this was the same as above 7–0 to hold and send the budget back to the town manager.

PUBLIC HEARING, Ordinance No. 768, Amends the Town of Colonial Beach Town Code, Chapter 21, “Water and Sewers,” by increasing the residential flat rate water and sewer user fees - this was to raise the water sewer bill by roughly $100 a year.

Citizen – please look, significant increase, this is real to others. Why no meters.

Citizen – water/ sewer do not increase, you did this last year.  Elderly can’t afford. Here’s an idea, have buildings with 8 apartments pay water sewer vs being on one meter. Suggest tax vacant buildings.

Citizen – OK with raising water sewer if water is good and sewer smell is not all over. That is currently not the case.

Citizen – don’t want fees to increase. Consider raising rates for those outside of town.

Citizen – no incentive to conserve water-use, turning a blind eye, not logical, lower water usage, don’t help people use less if it’s free, policy change over estimate. Wait for feedback.

Citizen - meter talk has been over nine years. Agrees ways to reduce usage, raised without all info. DEQ has not accepted our repair proposal yet so why not wait on rate decision. Let people help, flat rate not equitable, no waste deterrent.

COUNCIL DISCUSSION

There was a discussion around this and of course I was opposed to any increases, especially without additional information. I asked if the citizen that suggested DEQ has not even accepted our proposal for repairs yet was correct and the answer was yes. We need more information before we can pass increases in my opinion. The mayor said we were lucky we didn’t need 28% increases. Due to the fact that there was not time to re-advertise the water, sewer rate change only way to add a COLA for those staff members was to use ARPA funds. I asked for clarification. The mayor has repeatedly stated that one time money should not be used for general budget items and she did confirm this is correct but advocated for ARPA funds due to time constraints. I believe it was about $15k so in the grand scheme of things is not a significant amount of money. The final vote to give the raise was 7–0

After some more discussion the final vote to raise water sewer was 4–3 with Schick, Larson, Alison, and Wood YES and Sanford, Williams, Grandstaff voting NO

PUBLIC HEARING, Ordinance No. 769, Amends the Town of Colonial Beach Town Code, Chapter 21, “Water and Sewers,” by increasing the commercial flat rate water and sewer fees - this was to raise the water sewer rates by approximately $100 a year on the commercial side.

Citizen – don’t increase, check on multiple units, not being metered.

Citizen – change billing frequency for a residential example monthly.

Citizen – commercial meter not residential. Why do businesses that use more pay less? Our policy is abnormal. Not shooting for a goal. Step back.

Council Action

After some more discussion the final vote to raise water sewer was 4–3 with Schick, Larson, Alison, Wood YES and Sanford, Williams, Grandstaff voting NO

PUBLIC HEARING, Resolution #14-25, Adoption and Appropriation of Fiscal Year 2026

Budget and Adoption and Appropriation of the Fiscal Year 2026 Budget for the Colonial Beach School Board - We were told prices are going up example schools additional $180 K, we are only proposing 2% lodging increase or one cent real estate increase. Some cuts were made like customer service clerk, part-time police officer, consultant fees, computer equipment. The biggest cost for the town is the schools and public works. No cost-of-living has been proposed but the schools get a 4.5% raise.

Public hearing

Citizen – how much was the school fine and are taxpayers paying?

Citizen – school reality cost is high, look for ways to save, partner with county. Economy of scale. Collaborating saving. Major spending, least amount allowed by law.

COUNCIL DISCUSSION 

As stated above, we discussed the tax increases which tie directly to the budget. My suggestion was to send the budget back to the town manager for additional cuts and council unanimously agreed to do this. 7-0

• Council Action (Deferred until May 21, 2025)

Councilman David Williams

Please email or call with questions or comments:

dwilliams@colonialbeachva.gov

540-604-4335